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The SE++ Listening Party Thread. Now Playing: Fox and the Bird - Floating Feather

Hmm, I'll give them the fact that their tempos and beats are infinitely more creative then many of their peers in the genre but unfortunately they still fail to impress me.

The following should be taken with a grain of salt, I'm just a silly goose;

Hip Hop and its related genres have never caught my attention. Writing music solely for the purpose of dancing, singing along, or phatbeats just isn't my thing. I don't think less of people for enjoying it but I just can't help feeling like it's best suited as background music or dancing music rather then deep listening or what not.

Do you just sit perfectly still when listening to something like I Am the Wooden Doors?

Hmm, I'll give them the fact that their tempos and beats are infinitely more creative then many of their peers in the genre but unfortunately they still fail to impress me.

The following should be taken with a grain of salt, I'm just a silly goose;

Hip Hop and its related genres have never caught my attention. Writing music solely for the purpose of dancing, singing along, or phatbeats just isn't my thing. I don't think less of people for enjoying it but I just can't help feeling like it's best suited as background music or dancing music rather then deep listening or what not.

Do you just sit perfectly still when listening to something like I Am the Wooden Doors?

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NoisymunkLet's go down to the beach.Rhode IslandRegistered Userregular

I wish I could turn off the musician part of my brain. The playing on this album is pretty sloppy. I'm at the song "You Were But A Ghost..." and wow. I wouldn't have made that my final drum take on the intro. I want to get lost in the vibe they're trying to create, but the fact that they aren't really playing in time together keeps pulling me out of it.

I won't lose much sleep over it, though, if I wasn't a drummer it probably wouldn't be so jarring.

I agree with a lot of what Coffee said. It sounds like Oregon.

I might look into some of their more recent stuff to see if they tightened up at all, but, there's a quote on the wiki page that makes me think that would be fruitless.

“We wanted an album that sounded more alive and real....Our last album was a bit too mechanized, too polished, and that kind of disturbed us. So we brought back the older methods that we had utilized on our demos and first album to try and get back a more organic feeling."

I'm pretty sure the drums on the album were done by the guy who mostly does guitars and vocals out of necessity. I think they've gone with dedicated drummers since then, though I know he's also played drums on other projects. I guess part of it is that you have some self-taught musicians coming out of folk and black metal backgrounds who then get a nerd-on for things like 20th century classical. If you want to hear some of the same guys get their serialist prog precision boner going, check out Sculptured, I guess.

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NoisymunkLet's go down to the beach.Rhode IslandRegistered Userregular

Yes yes yes yes. I have not heard Sugar Water in such a very long time. You're taking me way back with this one. I'm going to have to go buy it on Amazon, now, because I'll be humming that chorus for the rest of the week.

Aeroplane over the sea is a greatttt greattt album. Except, well, I do not love Jesus Christ. And I really, really would cut those 10 seconds out of the album.

Haha, to be completely honest for the longest time I never listened to that whole track because I thought the whole song would be like that.

Also, Josh, I'm glad I saved you the burden. ;) Like I said, I almost decided against it just because it felt like the 'obvious' pick but the truth is there are still people who haven't heard it, and that makes me sad! I don't even consider it one of my very favourite albums, although Holland, 1945 is officially my Third Favourite Song Of All Time, but it's a very special album who a lot of people missed out on.

I wish I could turn off the musician part of my brain. The playing on this album is pretty sloppy. I'm at the song "You Were But A Ghost..." and wow. I wouldn't have made that my final drum take on the intro. I want to get lost in the vibe they're trying to create, but the fact that they aren't really playing in time together keeps pulling me out of it.

I won't lose much sleep over it, though, if I wasn't a drummer it probably wouldn't be so jarring.

I agree with a lot of what Coffee said. It sounds like Oregon.

I might look into some of their more recent stuff to see if they tightened up at all, but, there's a quote on the wiki page that makes me think that would be fruitless.

“We wanted an album that sounded more alive and real....Our last album was a bit too mechanized, too polished, and that kind of disturbed us. So we brought back the older methods that we had utilized on our demos and first album to try and get back a more organic feeling."

So I guess they like bein' sloppy.

John is primarily a guitarist, but I actually prefer his drumming over their new drummer Aesop Dekker. I would consider myself a drummer as well but it's definitely not my first instrument and definitely not my best. I do not mind it when drums lean toward what you are calling sloppy I'd presume when it fits. John's drumming on Pale Folklore would be a good example of that, and with a great snare tone to boot. I can see why it would bother you, for me it just give the kit some more character.

As far as Metal is concerned, percussion is incredible important. 99% of the time it is what my brain focuses on first and foremost.

Also I want to thank Reginald for Cibo Matto - Vava! La Woman. My copy as arrived today and it continues to be stuck in my head in the most delightful way possible.

Pitchfork: Well, I've already told you what I think is gonna weird people out in the indie-rock scene or whatever-- but, fuck 'em! It's real interesting to me that when you sing "I love you Jesus Christ" rather than "I love you Linda Sue" that it becomes totally different for a lot of listeners. Obviously, it is a very different meaning, but people might ascribe a whole set of characteristics toward you, or think of you completely differently, because of that one line. And of course, just because you sing a song doesn't mean that it's your own belief or outlook. People understand Robert De Niro isn't actually a boxer, but can't understand that a song might be someone working in character unless you make it super obvious.
JM: I can't honestly say that I 100% know what that song means. Do you have a minute? 'Cause this is going to take a little while to really explain this.

Pitchfork: Sure.

JM: For a lot of these songs, I was able to lock myself in a room and allow my mind to completely let out anything it wanted without me worrying too much about what anybody was gonna think. And I think that a song about God was inevitable, because of my upbringing, of the intense experiences I had growing up-- going to these crazy Church camps where everything was very open. We talked about sexuality freely, we talked about...

Pitchfork: And how old were you at the time?

JM: From 11 to 17.

Pitchfork: Where were the camps?

JM: In central Louisiana, out in the boonies.

Pitchfork: Is this the hippie influence on Christianity?

JM: It wasn't even really hippie, it was just weird-- where like you could just spill your guts all over the place, people were like laying around or like leaping and freaking out. But it wasn't so much that it was a God trip as much as it was an emotional, human trip. Even if you were an Atheist and your parents shipped you down there, you could talk about it. You could talk openly about your Atheist beliefs and there would be debates about it. And being an Atheist was just as beautiful as anything else.

The thing about me singing about Christ; I'm not saying "I love you Christianity." I'm not saying "I love all the fucked-up terrible shit that people have done in the name of God." And I'm not preaching belief in Christ. It's just expression. I'm just expressing something I might not even understand. It's a song of confusion, it's a song of hope, it's a song that says this whole world is a big dream-- and who knows what's gonna happen.

We played a show with Vic Chesnutt two weeks ago in Athens and he sat on the stage and played for 30 minutes and didn't stop. And he sang all these songs about how like action and reaction are the closest things to truth in the universe, how he's had all these out-of-body experiences but they weren't supernatural. And I thought it was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. To me, it's like I'm expressing something that's within me that I can't really explain that really has nothing to do with religion. My love for Christ has more to do with what he said and what he believed in. Then the church put all this fucked-up bullshit around it and made it all this really evil thing at times. If you attach man to anything, he's gonna fuck it up somehow, one way or the other. You think that's too cynical? [laughs]

Pitchfork: No, and we all fuck up. I don't believe in Christ myself, but the sermon on the mount and all the "love your enemy stuff" is an awesome philosophy. And I believe in God, but it's not something I talk about very much. And it's new to me, and it's weird. But I've always found music to be a really spiritual thing. It doesn't matter what kind of music so long as it's really pure, and really good: It's a totally spiritual thing to me.

JM: Right. My only thing with this record is that I feel like the record is very spiritual, but I don't consider it to be religious. And I just hope that when people hear me sing about Christ in the beginning, I hope they understand where I'm coming from in terms of the spiritual aspect of the record can be enjoyed.

Pitchfork: It's not about preaching.

JM: No. I'm just one person. And I haven't joined the Baptist church!

And just an interesting note, for anyone who loves this album and might have missed it: the take for Oh Comely was done when they were doing a mic check and Mangum just started to play the song and sing it. And they just kept the tape rolling the whole time. Some things were added post-recording like the horns, but for the most part it's an intact 8+ minute tune that he threw out and recorded on the first take, which is what they ended up using on the album. If you turn the speakers up at the very end of the song, you can hear someone in the recording booth yell, "HOLY SHIT!" It's so awesome.

That pitchfork article is really cool, I've gone to some...intense (think tongues, laying of hands, and fainting) churches too. Just to clarify though, my problem with it is not the line, I just do not find it pleasant to listen to for those 10 seconds. Like the sound itself is annoying to me. But as above, the rest of the album is absolute aces, and I respect the artistic decision, even if I don't aesthetically like it.

Haha yeah what QT said, all of that. And I should have clarified that once I actually listened to the song in full it didn't bother me at all. I just.. for some reason I literally thought it would just repeat that line a bunch of times. I have no idea why I came to that conclusion! Maybe the mp3 skipped.

But yeah once I listened to it - and the album - in full it made more sense to me.

I've thought of a lot of albums that I love that I want to do for my picks.

My first pick, however, shall go towards a band a lot of you probably haven't heard of: Ratatat, and their album, Classics.

They're one of the first modern electronic bands I listened to, they got me hooked on the genre once I listened to this album, and Loud Pipes is still one of my favorite songs. I hope you all enjoy this album as much as I did.

Sweeney Tom on April 2012

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joshofalltradesYOU get a hellbat! YOU get a hellbat!Everybody gets a hellbat!Registered Userregular

By the way guys, if anybody new wants to sign up for the rotation, it would be really helpful if you could @joshofalltrades me so I don't miss you. And if I still do for some dumb reason, shoot me a PM and I'll be glad to add you.

EDIT: Also I haven't listened to it yet, but Tacobel Canon is an awesome name for a song

This is really cool so far. Some seriously awesome chord progressions/melody lines/beats and it's all just integrated into something that sounds totally unique and awesome, but not weird for the sake of being weird. I am really digging this.

EDIT:

From Allmusic:

Stroud also plays, in the studio and on tour, with artists including Ben Kweller

I see what you did there, Sweeney Tom. Well played.

EDIT 2:

Just so I don't quadruple post, I'll put this here. That was a fantastic instrumental/synth album. It's just extremely well-produced and polished. I can really imagine myself listening to this when I don't feel like singing along, but want something textural and melodic.

Neutral Milk Hotel is fantastic! Never have I thought that a concept album about Anne Frank would be good, but here it is. I really liked the juxtaposition of the concept from the actual music, and the horns were both jarring and beautiful throughout the entire album as well. I can't say I am one for a lot of low-fi indie albums, but this one sold me. Definitely going to buy it.

What's weird is that, in the song Living Life on On My Way (Ben Kweller's sophomore slump) he says, "Take it, Stroud" right before a solo starts. So I knew Stroud was his guitar player but didn't think to see what else he'd done.

Neutral Milk Hotel is fantastic! Never have I thought that a concept album about Anne Frank would be good, but here it is. I really liked the juxtaposition of the concept from the actual music, and the horns were both jarring and beautiful throughout the entire album as well. I can't say I am one for a lot of low-fi indie albums, but this one sold me. Definitely going to buy it.

Glad I turned you onto it! Yeah, the low-fi indie thing can definitely just be uninspired bullshit masquerading as something deeper than it really is, but NMH is genuine artistry to the point that the fact that it's low-fi is completely beside the point, imo.

Also I almost totally forgot about this thread yesterday and today between my job interview yesterday and being offered the job today, but I dug what I saw of Ratatat on last year's Coachella stream so I'm ready to get on this. Will edit in my thoughts.

Edit: So yeah, I don't have a ton to say about it. It wasn't as exciting as their live show, and as mentioned I'm very much a lyrics/vocal guy.. I enjoyed it a lot, I'm just not sure if it'd ever make it into my rotation. It sounds wonderful, it's just difficult for me to form an attachment to it I guess. That said, I'm also pretty tired and not focusing very well, so I think I'll probably end up giving it another proper listen at some later point just to better appreciate it.

Tough to make a decision, some of my favorite artists have been very prolific lately. Devin Townsend put out several albums, Primus put out a new album, but this band really came out of left field and surprised me.

They are from Beijing, and they play Mongolian folk music with a rock backbone. It reminds me of what Gogol Bordello does - take your roots and amp them up to appeal to a new audience and spread some culture around.

Delightful! Much better then I was expecting. Dynamic range, clever structure, and an absents of what I consider less then desirable electronica influence. This is really cool! I love the use of strings mixed with the static percussion creating a jarring effect that works very well.

Tacobel Cannon sounds like something Alex Mauer would write.

This was really cool and not what I was expecting, I'll be listening to it more to see if it sticks with me. Thanks Sweeney Tom.

And I am oh so very excited for Hanggai, I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.

Hanggai, oh man.
This shit is white hot. I have found new music to do...everything to. I don't really see the gogol bordello links, but I know notthing about this traditional music, so maybe this is hyper modernized and my sensibilities just can't tell.

At any rate, this is highly listinable, lovely, energetic music. It honestly most reminds me of good times I have had at hippie/bluegrass music festivals. I can imagine this making a great live show.
I can't speak particularly intelligently about the instruments or the playing, but I do like how they build up their layers, and throw a very modern bass in there to ground it all.
I double love the...is it throat singing? Maybe? I recognize it from some bela fleck albums anyway, whatever it is. Very cool.

Hanggai was cool, but never really jumped beyond that. I bet they have a blast playing though and you can definitely hear that. I enjoyed it. A good fun album though, I don't regret hearing it. Songs like Gobi Road that abandon the rock/pop pace to set up a picture are my favorite here.

Just so everyone knows my choice for today will be

I Shalt Become - Poison

A very interesting listen that took multiple sessions to finally sink in. Horrible album cover aside, this album became magnificent before my very ears.

Really enjoying Hanggai so far. I can see this being very good music for me to listen to when working/writing/coding/etc. I find music with lyrics that I understand too distracting as a soundtrack to anything I have to think about, as I end up singing along.